1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for attaching a box to a box pin on an end of an elongate separable slide fastener chain in the manufacture of a separable slide fastener with a separable end stop. More particularly, it relates to an apparatus adapted to be employed in such box attachment apparatus for holding a box during attaching process of the latter to the separable slide fastener chain.
2. Prior Art
There are known apparatus for attaching a box to a box pin on an end of a slide fastener chain. One such known apparatus is shown in FIG. 10 of the accompanying drawings and includes a box holder A swingably mounted for angular movement between a box receiving position which is located adjacent to the discharge end of a box supply chute C adapted to feed boxes B one at a time to the box holder A, and a box attaching position which is located in a feed path of a separable slide fastener chain F having a pair of laterally aligned pins on an end thereof. As the separable slide fastener chain is fed along the feed path F, the pins are received in the box B while the latter is at rest in the box attaching position. Then, the box and one of the pins are joined together to form a separable box, the separable box and the other pin jointly constituting a separable end stop.
The known box attaching apparatus having such swingable box holder is complex in structure because the box holder includes a box-gripper mechanism, a gripper actuating mechanism, and a holder rocking mechanism. Furthermore, the swingable box holder occupies a relatively large space for its operation and requires a tedious handling. With these difficulties, the known apparatus fails to meet a desire of providing a compact box attaching apparatus.